Unexpected magic
by Theaugury1
Summary: Violet thought she was just an ordinary girl, little did she know that almost two months after her 11th birthday, life as she knew it was going to change.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: I'm pretty excited about this one, I got the idea while re-reading Order of the Phoenix this morning and smashed out the first two chapters, I'm sure the story premise has been done before but I've not read any.

*I don't take credit for anything from J. 's Harry Potter universe, though the plot line and many characters are my own invention*

June 5th 2010

It was a sunny morning in London England as a young girl sat on the balcony of a small flat overlooking the River Thames and the city behind it, she let out a frustrated grunt as she brushed her waist length blonde hair from in front of her piercing blue eyes to better see the pages of the book clutched lovingly in her hands.

The streets below were bustling with the sounds of passing cars and taxis taking people in to the city for shows and shopping. As the sound of Big Bens chimes floated across the river signalling 10 am the girl looked up from the book as she heard a voice from within the flat calling her name, she marked her page with a neat fold and made her way inside.

"Violet!" came the voice again, coming from the entry way to the flat.

"yeah dad?" she called back as she found the source of the voice, her father, standing by the front door looking rather startled.

"what is it?" she asked cautiously. Her father, a tall man with a balding head didn't startle often, this fact alone made Violet concerned.

"er…you're still in your pyjamas…" he said slowly, Violet felt guilty as she'd been up all morning but had been too lazy to dress "never mind, er… go and get yourself dressed, we're going out"

"where are we going?" she asked, confused.

"to see… to see your uncle" he said quickly.

"can I bring my book? It's so boring there! They don't even have a TV!" she asked hopefully.

"yeah sure just be quick getting dressed" her fathered said quickly, looking impatient.

Violet dashed to her bedroom and changed into a pretty white summer dress with blue flowers and lace trim and a pair of tan sandals, she gave her hair a quick brush and bolted back to the front door clutching her book tightly.

Within 10 minutes she and her father were in the car crossing the river. She was incredibly confused by her father's abrupt decision to visit her uncle today, they had only been to his house once a year to see him for as long as she could remember, and never without reason. Of course, he wasn't really her uncle, he was her father's cousin, though he had grown up with her dad who had let her start calling him uncle when she was only two so as not to confuse her. She liked her uncle, even though she didn't see him much because he always made sure there were plenty of sweets and delicious foods to eat when they did stop by.

15 minutes later her father pulled the car to a stop outside the lovely stone town house Violet knew to be the home of her uncle, her father got out in a hast, tapping his foot impatiently as she climbed out of the car and stepped onto the footpath. Her father locked the car with a click of the button on his keychain and the pair stepped through the old wrought iron gate and approached the front door.

"still don't know who he could've inherited this place from" her father said with a grunt as he pressed the doorbell.

As she listened to the approaching footsteps within she noticed that the sign above the door had been mended since their last visit, it now gleamed in the summer sunlight, clearly reading _'12 Grimmauld place'_.

"Dudley! We er, we weren't expecting you!" her uncle said as he opened the door, a look of shock painted across his face.

"we need to talk!" her father demanded holding what looked like an old letter out to her uncle, who took it in his hand and turned it over once.

"ah yes… she did mention…" he said quietly observing it "come in then"

"GINNY, IT'S DUDLEY AND VIOLET" he called quickly as he stepped aside to allow them into the house. As she stepped inside she saw her red headed aunt dash through the door at the bottom of the stair case and out to the back yard calling for her cousins.

"they're all playing outside, Teddy's here for the weekend, summer break and all that" he explained leading them into the drawing room.

Violet plonked herself down quietly in a plush black chair by the window, turning to her book as she so often did during these visits leaving her uncle and father to talk.

"so, Dudley –" her uncle said, a smile in his voice before her father cut him off.

"is this your idea of a joke? Almost had a heart attack I did, this isn't funny you know!" he shouted indignantly.

"Dudley, this wasn't me, I didn't do this, I swear it… sit down, let me explain please?" her uncle pleaded "look here's Ginny with tea now, let's be adults about this"

Her father sat down, his face a deep shade of red, Violet couldn't help but notice how much he looked like her pop at this moment.

"go on then!" her father demanded as her aunt Ginny had finished pouring him some tea.

"well" her uncle started slowly, placing his cup of tea on the table beside him "there's a register at Hog-"

"don't say it right now!" her father demanded, anxiously glancing at Violet who still had her face buried in her book, though was no longer reading.

"at.. at the school" her uncle continued cautiously "it is an automatic system that keeps track of any er… eligible future students… from the day they're born, no matter what their family situation or parentage may be… that's how they sent me my letters… I was on the registry. It also keeps track of their address. At the point that they reach acceptance age the deputy head of the school sends correspondence to each of these future students to offer them a place, with the exception of situations like yours where a representative of the school will usually hand deliver the letter and explain…everything… in this case, given history, the current headmistress contacted me to make me aware of the situation, she thought it better if a representative didn't attend, but that they leave the situation alone for you to hopefully come to me to explain"

"you knew about this!" her father demanded "how long have you known?!"

"only a week, the letter I was sent is in my desk drawer if you'd like to see it Dudley, though I must make sure you know there can be serious consequences for ignoring this, it's really quite dangerous" her uncle answered quickly.

"why didn't you tell me?" her father asked, sounding more surprised than angry now.

"what would you've said Dud? Even as the situation stands you thought I was playing some nasty prank on you and your daughter" her uncle reasoned.

After a few quiet moments of consideration her father finally spoke again.

"but how? I mean…I'm not a…and mums and dad…" he asked clearly trying to come to terms with something that Violet herself had obviously missed.

"it does happen, for it to crop up out of nowhere, just look at my mum, it's possible that there's history of it on your dad's side, but it's unlikely, I know it hasn't come from the Evans side" he explained as though trying to work something out.

"how d'you know that?" her father asked.

"I did a bunch of research, after I finished school, had a lot of spare time while I tried to figure out what I could still do for work, given that I didn't graduate at all, nothing before my mum. I suppose it could have come from Abigail's side but who knows, it's really not all that important Dud, it is what it is really" he said, very sure of what he was saying.

Violet was beyond confused now, she had no idea what they could possibly be talking about, she turned the page of her book to appear as though she was still reading and continued to listen intently.

"will you…will you help me explain it to her Harry, I really don't know how…" her dad asked his cousin slowly after a long pause in the conversation.

"of course, shall we do it now?" her uncle asked, now suddenly more relaxed.

Violet assumed that her father had nodded as the next words spoken were by her uncle.

"Vi, would you put your book down please? We need to have a chat with you"

She carefully marked her page, put her book on the table next to her and turned to face the two men, her uncle had a warm, loving smile across his face, her father a look of concern. Her uncle filled a third cup with hot tea then topped up her fathers and his own before folding his fingers into each other and turning to face her.

"Violet, I have a letter for you and a lot of information to explain, it's going to be a shock, and you'll think I'm mad, but I promise I'll explain everything ok?" he told her calmly.

Violet nodded slowly as her uncle handed her the old looking letter that her father had handed him when they had arrived.

She looked at it cautiously, the name on the front was hers and the address was that of her and her father's home, she turned it over, puzzled by the strange wax seal fastening it at the back. Hands trembling slightly, she opened the envelope and read the letter within;

 _HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT AND WIZARDY_

 _Headmistress: Minerva McGonagall_

 _Dear Ms. Dursley,_

 _We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

 _Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment._

 _Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July._

 _Yours sincerely,_

 _Filius Flitwick_

 _Filius Flitwick,_

 _Deputy headmaster_

Violet lifted her gaze from the letter to her uncle, not understanding what she had just read in the slightest. She had never heard of Hogwarts, and witchcraft and wizardry? Surely this was a practical joke.

"Hogwarts school of…" she slowly started to ask her uncle.

"witchcraft and wizardry" he finished for her after she trailed off, clearly sensing her confusion. "contrary to what many think Violet, magic is a very real thing and Hogwarts is a school which educates people, such as yourself, who possess magical skills how to use them and the laws surrounding them. I attended Hogwarts, as did your aunt Ginny"

Violet, confused as ever and beginning to suspect that her uncle was out of his mind looked now to her father who nodded.

"I know it sounds mad Vi, but it's true, I recognised the letter right away, Harry got one around his 11th birthday… I didn't believe it was real either until some lunatic showed up and gave me a bloody pigs tail!" her father said growing rapidly redder in the face.

"it can't be true!" violet declared after a long pause of consideration "if magic was real I'd know about it! I'd have seen it when we visit!"

"well, there's law you see, about when you can and can't use magic, one of the times you can't is when you're around non- magical people, as it was, we didn't know that you were a witch, so we had to keep it from you" her uncle explained as though he were merely telling her how to turn on a light.

"prove it" she demanded.

Harry gave a quick nod, got up and left the room, returning shortly with an oddly perfect looking stick in his hand.

"this is a wand, this is how witches and wizards conduct their magic" her uncle explained as he returned, he turned to face Violet, looking excited before pointing the wand at her book on the table "wingardium leviosa"

With a swish and a slight flick of the wand her book rose gently and slowly off the table and moved wherever he pointed it, her father looked highly uncomfortable but surprised nevertheless.

"wow" said her father quietly "I've never actually seen you use your wand… not that I can remember properly anyway…"

"look, Violet" her uncle said slowly, turning to speak directly to her "I didn't believe it was real until I got my letter either, but I can prove it in other ways, I still have all my old school books, my robes, my own letter in fact, Teddy goes to Hogwarts too, he's going into his second year this year, I know it sounds absolutely bizarre but I promise you, it is real"

"I… I believe you" she said slowly, still unsure as she turned to the equipment list on the second page of her letter "cauldron? Wand? Where are we meant to get all of this?"

"Diagon Alley" her uncle responded, grinning now from ear to ear, now turning to his cousin "we're going tomorrow to get Teddy's supplies for his grandmother since we're so close, we can take you if you'd like?"

"er…sure" her father replied, clearly, he didn't have any more of a clue what or where Diagon Alley was than Violet did.


	2. Chapter 2

*I don't take credit for anything from J. 's Harry Potter universe, though the plot line and many characters are my own invention*

6th July 2010

The next morning Violet had woken to her father tapping on her bedroom door asking her to get up, she had dressed quickly in a pretty blue lace dress and the same brown sandals she had worn the previous day, brushed her hair and went to the kitchen for breakfast.

She was shocked to find her father already dressed in his best jeans and a blue and white striped polo shirt at the dining table. They ate breakfast in silence and as she put her cereal bowl in the sink her father set his coffee cup down on the table looking at his watch.

"9:15, we best get moving" he said nervously "best not be late"

Violet nodded and followed him out the door and to the car, not voicing her surprise at her fathers words, he only ever cared about being on time when it came to work and her grandmother.

Ten minutes later they had parked the car and were standing outside of a small café in the heart of London, her father sipping at a coffee he had ducked inside to buy.

"hey Violet!" called a voice from behind them.

Violet turned around to see Teddy walking towards her with her uncle Harry and her aunt Ginny, Teddys normally brown hair shone a vivid blue in the morning sunshine.

"hi Teddy, you died your hair?" she greeted him, too nervous about the day ahead to sound too friendly.

"uh… kinda…I'll explain later" Teddy said quickly glancing around as he spoke.

"Harry" her father nodded, greeting her uncle "so where do we go now?"

"just across the street!" her uncle replied happily as he checked both ways and crossed the road, the rest of the group following his lead.

Once across the street they approached a very dark, dingy looking old pub, it seemed to Violet as though the people walking past didn't even see it, she could just imagine her grandmothers reaction to the dirty looking building.

"never noticed this place" her father said as they walked through the door one at a time "its on the way to work too"

"you wouldn't" her uncle said as he closed the door behind him "this is an inn for magical people, it's designed to only be noticed by those who know it's here"

The group followed Ginny through the pub, past the bar where she waved kindly to the blonde woman drying glasses and out a door at the back into a cramped little alley where her uncle took out his wand and tapped one of the bricks in the wall. Violet watched on in amazement as the wall clunked and grinded, each brick moving to form a large archway.

"welcome to Diagon Alley!" said Teddy from beside Violet, almost shouting with excitement.

"we'll have to go to Gringotts first" her uncle said to his wife before turning to her dad and adding "that's our bank, Ginny will take Teddy down to his family's vault and stop in at ours, and I'll help you convert your money"

"convert? You lot have your own money?" her father asked, clearly surprised by this fact.

"her uncle simply nodded as they walked towards a huge white building which towered over the rest of the shops, they climbed its steps and entered the doors as Teddy was chattering excitedly about wanting to visit the joke shop they had passed.

Twenty minutes later they had converted their money and were making their way through various shops purchasing violets school supplies as they went, they'd already gotten her robes, books, a large trunk and most of her equipment, all she still needed was her wand.

The three of them sidled into a dark and dusty shop where her uncle Harry approached the counter.

"ah young master Potter, how wonderful to see you again, you haven't broken your wand have you?" came the voice of a terribly old gentleman with small wisps of white hair tucked behind his ears.

"no sir it's still as good as ever, I'm actually here for a wand for someone else, Mr. Ollivander, I'd like you to meet my cousin, Dudley Dursley and his daughter Violet, Violet will be starting at Hogwarts this school term and will be needing a wand!" her uncle responded with a laugh.

"Good morning miss Dursley, Mr. Dursley" the old man said addressing them "why don't you and Mr. Dursley take a seat Harry, this could take a while"

The two men happily obliged as the old man beckoned violet to step up to the counter.

"which is your wand arm dear?" the old man asked.

"um, I'm right handed" she replied unsure if this was the correct answer, her uncle nodded in reassurance.

After taking several strange measurements with a funny little tape measure the old man turned and began pulling several long thin boxes from the stacks all around him, the old man started handing them to her one by one, after she had taken the third and had it swiped back by him in a hurry when nothing happened as a result of her waving them around, violet started to worry that there had been a mistaken and she wasn't a witch after all just as she had become sure that it was all real. She was reassured however when she heard her uncle explaining to her dad that the old man was just looking for the right wand and that at least nothing was exploding.

Finally, he handed her a long, brown, slightly bent wand with a pointed tip and a round ball at the end of the grooved handle, as she took it from him she felt a sudden warmth in her fingertips slowly creeping across the span of her hand, instinctively she raised her hand and gave it a smooth wave, leaving a pattern of red and gold sparks trailing in the air behind it.

She could tell this was a good thing by the grin on both her uncle and the old mans faces.

"wonderful, wonderful indeed!" proclaimed Mr. Ollivander beaming at her happily "Cypress, dragon heartstring core, rigid flexibility, you should find my dear, that this is a noble and loyal wand, you should be honoured to have been chosen by it"

Her father paid for her wand, which was now tucked carefully back in its box and wrapped in paper and they made their way out of the shop.

"we still have a bit of time to kill before we have to meet Ginny, why don't we go look at Magical Menagerie? It's a pet shop, students are allowed take a pet to school with them, you'd remember my owl Hedwig Dudley" her uncle half asked half stated, to which her father nodded.

They walked a while down the alley and sidled into a small shop filled with noise and animals, there where owls, cats, toads rats and many other types of animals all around the store.

Violet, who had forgotten that part of her letter started wandering around the shop looking at its offerings, the letter had said she could bring an owl, a cat or a toad, she didn't like cats much and was petrified of frogs, so started automatically looking at the owls.

Her wandering eyes rested upon a beautiful white owl with cinnamon coloured markings on its wings and face, there was something beautiful about it that she simply couldn't draw her gaze away.

"would you like a closer look dear?" asked the woman who had been behind the counter as she walked towards her.

She nodded politely and the woman called the owl down from its perch.

"her name is Dahlia" the woman told her as she held out an arm for the owl to perch on, violet reached up and stroked her gently on the wing, the owl cooing in appreciation.

"she's beautiful" came her uncles voice from behind her, violet turned to face her uncle smiling broadly "your father has said that I can buy your pet if you'd like, it doesn't have to be an owl if you'd rather a cat or a toad, owls are more practical though as they can carry your mail"

"I'd really like her, if that's okay uncle Harry?" she said as the owl hopped from the woman arm to violets hand.

"we'll take her then" her uncle said to the woman and moved to the counter to pay for her.

They put Dahlia in the cage that came with her and left the shop, violet grinning from ear to ear as they headed back down the alley towards the joke shop to meet Teddy and aunt Ginny.

Teddy was as excited about Violet getting an owl as she was when he saw her. He had even told her excitedly that they could write until they went to school in September, Violet liked this idea as she had heaps of questions for him.

They entered the joke shop and Teddy, aunt Ginny and uncle Harry went straight to the counter to greet the tall, thin, red headed man behind the counter, Violet and her dad following behind them. The mans eyes lit up like light bulbs when he saw the first three.

"Gin! Harry! And Teddy! How are you doing young man? Where are the other kids?" he asked of Ginny and Harry.

"with mum and dad" Ginny smiled.

"we've brought my cousin and his daughter with us, you remember my cousin Dudley right?" Harry grinned, gesturing towards Violet and her father.

"oh yes!" grinned the man, this seemed to make her father blush from ear to ear "sorry about last time mate, this is your daughter then?"

Her father only nodded in response.

"and carrying an owl too, geez! Bet that was a big old shock for you mate!" the tall man said to her father grinning even wider.

"oh stop it George!" Ginny snapped at the man "Violet, Dudley, this is my brother George, he owns this shop, and yes George, Violet here is off to Hogwarts this term.

"well we best make sure you and Teddy both have plenty of supplies then!" declared George as he set off around the shop, slipping them both a bunch of items while their parents stood by the counter talking.

"don't look at it till you get on the train okay you two? Especially you Teddy, there's a couple new things in there that Ginny wouldn't like and your grandmother definitely wouldn't like, Teddy will explain it all to you on the train to school okay violet?" he said to them in hushed tones after leading them around the shop for half an hour.

Finally, they all set off out of the shop, heading for the pub they had entered the alley through, where they had all agreed to have lunch before separating and heading home.

Ten minutes later they were all sat around a table in the cool air of the pub looking at menus, relieved to put all their shopping down for a while.

"oh Harry, Ginny, how wonderful to see you! And Teddy Lupin! Excited to go back to school?" the blonde woman that aunt Ginny had waved to on their way into the alley said as she approached the table and handed them all menus. Teddy replied and after a short chat the woman hurried off back to the bar as an old wizard sitting there in a stool was getting impatient.

"Hannah Abbott" uncle Harry explained to her dad apologetically "we went to school with her"

"did you say Abbott?" her father asked uncle Harry curiously, turning his gaze to the blonde witch behind the bar in an odd way.

"yeah I did, why?" uncle harry replied.

"well its just…" he started slowly, glancing at Violet with an odd look painted on his face "that was Abigail's last name, before we got married y'know, and she looks very similar to her…"

Uncle Harry turned his attention to the blonde witch appraisingly then back to her dad and slowly to her.

"it's not likely Dudley, they would have been around the same age but I don't remember Hannah having any family at school" he said carefully "I'll ask her when she comes back though, if you'd like?"

Her dad nodded and turned his attention to the menu, soon they had all decided what to have when the woman returned, she took their orders and turned to leave but uncle harry stopped her before she walked away.

"Hannah, this is my cousin Dudley, and his daughter Violet, Violet's starting at Hogwarts this year" he said carefully

"oh congratulations!" she said turning to Violet.

"which brings me to a question, its…well its going to sound very odd" uncle harry started slowly, continuing when the woman nodded to indicate he could ask "well, Dudley's not a wizard, and as far as we know his wife wasn't a witch, though she sadly passed a few years ago so we can't be certain, her family name was Abbott, and see she looked really quite similar to you Hannah, we were just wondering, if she was your sister or perhaps your cousin or something of the sort"

"I never had a sister Harry" she said before a long moment of consideration "I don't know about a cousin though, my father never spoke of his side of the family you see, they really didn't approve of him marrying my mum, being a muggle and all… how's this, I'll send him an owl tonight when I close up, see if he knows anything, and I'll let you know whatever he says?"

"that would be wonderful Hannah, thank you" uncle harry answered before she headed back to the bar.

An hour later they were all making their way back out the door they had entered through that morning, Teddy and Violet following a few steps behind, discussing the ins and outs of owl post.

"then you just tie it carefully to the leg, and send her on her way, as long as you put the name and address it'll get there, try sending me something tonight and I'll send one back with my owl Aurora, she's pretty old cause she was my dad's but she's still wonderful" Teddy said to her excitedly "I'll see you on the train anyway! Bye Violet!"

Violet hugged her aunt and uncle when they reached her father's car and her dad thanked them for their help before they got in the car and parted ways.

Once they were home her dad dragged her new trunk up the stairs and into the living room while violet pulled all her new school supplies up behind him, putting them in her bedroom while her father stored the large trunk in the spare room.

She placed her wand, telescope, potions kit and cauldron in the bottom of her wardrobe for safe keeping, she put her package of robes and school clothes on top of her dresser and neatly stacked all of her school books on her desk, finally she placed Dahlias cage on top of the book case by her bedroom window which she opened wide to give Dahlia some fresh air.

"dad said I can let you out when it gets dark" she told the owl gently "you can take a note to Teddy for me"

With that she picked up the most interesting looking of the books 'A History of Magic' by someone called Bathilda Bagshot, laid down on her bed, opened the book and started reading, her novel sat on her bedside cupboard, completely forgotten.

Hours passed as she read intently about Goblin wars and witch burnings, she'd learnt about the burnings in the school she had already gone to, but the recounts were very different, she giggled in particular about Wendelin the Weird who enjoyed being burnt so much that she got caught forty-seven times.

It wasn't until her father called her for dinner that she tore herself away from the book, she went to the dinner table where they ate every night and found that her dad had ordered Chinese food in.

"so what have you been reading all afternoon?" her dad asked as he sat down across from her "I heard you giggling away like a loony, must be good whatever it is"

"one of my school books, it's actually my history book, it's all very interesting and a little bit funny" she responded.

"how so?" her father asked, appraising her almost uncomfortably.

"well, there's a whole chapter about witch burning in the fourteenth century, just like in normal history books, but it's the magical side" she started, noticing her father glance towards the window by the table to make sure it was shut "well, they actually did happen, and they often burnt the right people, thing is, they had magic didn't they, but they knew they couldn't fly away because of the laws about revealing themselves as magical, so they put a spell on the flames to make them cold and just thrashed about and screamed for a while to make them think they were dead and then escaped later on, but apparently the spell made the flames tickle a bit and this one witch liked it so much she got caught forty seven times so she could get burnt! On purpose!"

"well that is a little funny isn't it" her father chuckled quietly.

They continued talking while they ate the rest of their dinner, her father seeming to actually be interested in what she had read in her book.

When they had both finished eating her father took both of their plates and put them in the sink.

"I have work in the morning don't forget, I don't want you to sleep in all day okay?" he said as he started washing up the dishes "remember not to let your owl out during the day, and if you're going to sit outside to read make sure Mrs. Williams doesn't see anything odd on your book okay? There's loads of leftover food in the fridge you can eat if you want. D'you want a cup of tea before you go back into your room?"

"yes please" she replied, noticing how tired her dad looked as he put the kettle on to boil "are you okay dad?"

"yeah" he replied slowly "you remind me more and more of your mother every day you know…I just miss her"

She looked up at the photo of her mother on the dining room wall, her long curly blonde hair flowing to her waist and blue sparkling eyes smiling down at her.

"I miss her too dad…" she said quietly as he handed her a cup of tea.

"I know sweetheart, I'll be alright" he said, kissing her gently on the forehead "you can let your owl out now if you like, just don't stay up too late writing notes to Teddy…or reading"

"thanks dad" she said as she got up and carried her cup of tea to her room.

She picked up a pen and opened the stationary set her grandmother had gotten her last Christmas and hastily wrote a note to Teddy

 _Teddy,_

 _I hope I get this right, it feels very strange, I wanted to send this hours ago but dad said to wait till it got dark, reckons it'd look funny to the neighbours having a bird flying around in the day time._

 _Dad seems in an odd mood, he's barely said anything all afternoon and he ordered dinner in, he normally only does that every second Friday._

 _Anyway, send something back soon, I hope this doesn't take ages._

 _Violet_

She placed the note into a blue envelope from the stationary set and addressed it to Teddy, 12 Grimmauld place, London then took the envelope and slowly approached Dahlias cage, she opened the door carefully and removed the beautiful bird from the cage. Dahlia hooted happily and held out her leg as though she knew exactly what Violet wanted to do, she carefully attached the envelope to her leg and asked her politely to please take it to Teddy then hurry back before turning back to her book.

About half an hour later a pretty tawny owl landed on her windowsill where Dahlia had perched herself 15 minutes ago.

"hello" she greeted it quietly "you must be Aurora"

She carefully took the note attached to the birds leg, gave her a little pat and off she flew, Violet opened the note and eagerly read it.

 _Violet,_

 _You did perfect! And your dads right, it would look funny, Harry and Ginny try not to send owls in the day too, we can at Hogwarts though!_

 _Harry said that Miss. Abbott (the lady at the pub) seemed to freak your dad out a bit, they think she might be related to your mum somehow, don't worry, Harry will figure it out, he's good at stuff like that._

 _Teddy_

She wrote a quick note back asking Teddy what the word 'muggle' meant, she'd heard the lady at the pub use it and it had popped up in a history of magic a few times, then sent Dahlia on her way again.

She spent the rest of the night reading her book and sending notes back and forth to Teddy, who said he was doing some homework. His last note for the night said he was going home to his grandmother's house in the morning but that they could keep writing to each other if she wanted, just send it to 22 pine drive, Ditchling, East Sussex, England, the owls would take a bit longer but they'd appreciate the extra flying time, he had explained.

With a great yawn Violet turned to her alarm clock to find that it was 2 am, she reached over and turned off her lamp, rolled over and fell quickly to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: The chapters are going to come pretty hard and fast for a little while, hopefully I can keep the momentum up, but I will promise at minimum one new chapter every two weeks, no matter what.

*I own nothing from the original Harry Potter universe, only the original characters*

August 28th 2010

The rest of the summer passed in a happy blur, Violet spent her days reading all of her school books and her nights sending owls back and forth with Teddy, every second Sunday they went to uncle Harry and aunt Ginny's house for dinner, it seemed like a completely different house now with dishes in the sink enchanted to wash themselves and magical instruments all around.

Uncle Harry had told her lots about Hogwarts and explained, to her father's horror, how they would need to get onto platform 9 ¾ after her ticket for the school train had come.

Her dad and uncle had been exchanging letters by owl so he would know how to reply to her letters while she was at school, this had started after her father freaked out when uncle Harry had sent him an owl a week after their trip to Diagon Alley, to say that Miss. Abbott's father did have a brother but didn't know if he had any children, but he would do some research with the ministry's ancestry office to see what he could find.

During one of their visits, uncle Harry had introduced them to his two best friends, Ron and Hermione Weasley, Ron as it turned out was aunt Ginny's older brother. Hermione, as she had discovered worked for the ministry of magic and was very excited to tell Violet all about magical law and government.

As it was now the last weekend before school was starting, they had one last dinner at the Potter house the following night, and Teddy would be there too to save having to travel into the city on Wednesday to catch the train.

"bring all the clothes you want to take to school with you Violet, and your robes, and I'll label them for you, it's far easier using magic" aunt Ginny had said as they left their last dinner a fortnight ago.

So, there sat Violet on her bedroom floor basking in the late afternoon sun beaming through her bedroom window, piles of clothes around her, as she chose what clothes to take to school.

"Vi! We're leaving in 15 minutes sweetheart" her father called from the living room.

Violet begrudgingly pulled herself from her task and went to her wardrobe, she found the dress and shoes her grandmother had given her for her last birthday hidden right in the back, took them out and put them on, appraising herself in the mirror. It was a truly hideous outfit, the dress was an awful mustard yellow colour with an awful navy blue, round collar that sat tight around her neck, the shoes to go along with it were no better. She took her hair brush and pulled her hair up into a tight bun, she had learnt long ago that it was far easier to deal with the discomfort of having her hair out of the way than to deal with her grandmother's fuss and bother about how badly she needed a haircut.

Fifteen minutes later she found her father waiting by the front door, his keys and a bottle of wine in hand.

Half an hour later, as they wound through side streets rapidly approaching the Dursley house, Violet was rehearsing in her head the information her father had given her about the school he had said she was to be attending.

'it's not that I'm ashamed of you love, that's far from the case, however, my parents didn't take it well at all when Harry got his letter and I don't much fancy giving your grandfather a heart attack' her father had said.

She had understood completely, her grandparents were incredibly old fashioned and very much stuck in their ways, so she didn't argue with his decision to tell them she would be attending Lady Langford's school for girls in the Irish countryside.

Violet closed her eyes and breathed deeply as they turned the corner onto their street at last, enjoying a quiet moment of peace. She had loved visiting them more than anything as a child, sweets galore and presents at every visit, now it just felt like a chore listening to her father and grandfather talk business nonstop while her grandmother fussed about how thin she was and the fact that they should visit more.

As her father brought the car to a stop in front of the house Violet plastered a huge smile across her face and got out the car while the front door flung open and her grandmother flitted out to greet them.

The visit went as it always did, though with her grandmother fussing over both of them far more than usual. She had made a big cake for the occasion to congratulate Violet on being accepted to Lady Langford's, an exceptional feat in her eyes, and spent extra time fussing over how lonely her 'poor little diddy-kins' would be with his only daughter off to school, much to her father's disgust.

Finally, four hours later they were climbing back into the car as her father begrudgingly agreed to fortnightly dinners with his parents while she was at school, much to her grandmother's delight. After another round of fussing and being attacked with kisses they pulled the car doors closed and set off home at last.

When they got home her dad told Violet to finish organising her clothes to take tomorrow and try and get an early night as they would be going to Uncle Harry's house at 12 o'clock, rather than the usual 5 o'clock before bidding her goodnight and turning to his own bedroom.

Violet turned to Dahlia's cage, opened its door and the window beside it then turned her attention back to the clothes on the floor.

'so, you need something to wear on the train until it's time to put your robes on, and you'll need clothes for the weekends too, don't worry about packing everything you have though because you'll be home again at Christmas and then Easter, so you can swap some clothes then if you want to, and make sure you have plenty of warm clothes okay? Not just dresses, it gets colder sooner at Hogwarts' aunt Ginny had said.

She piled up half a dozen dresses, five pairs of jeans, five jumpers and a dozen T-shirts. She made sure she added half a dozen pairs of pyjamas to the pile, some summer some winter and every pair of underpants she owned, just in case, then stacked all of the selected clothes into the blue and white striped duffle bag usually reserved for sleep overs, zipped it up and turned her attention to putting all of her other clothes back in their cupboards.

Ten minutes later she put the last of her clothes back in her wardrobe and turned to face the window, it was eleven o'clock and Teddy had not written at all this evening. She felt quite lost as she had grown very used to his owl showing up at her window every night.

A feeling of disappointment in the bottom of her stomach, she climbed into her bed and picked up the copy of _Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them_ by someone called Newt Scamander that she had been reading the night before and opened to the page about Bowtruckles, curious little creatures who are known to live in wand trees, she made a mental note to ask Uncle Harry what Wand trees were before she continued reading.

An hour later the familiar hoot of Aurora came through her window as she landed beside Dahlia, letter attached to her leg, this went unnoticed by Violet though, who had already fallen to sleep, face down in her book.

She woke up at four o'clock the next morning to a teetering Aurora perched on her bedside table, she reached over and carefully removed the note from her leg.

"hold on please Aurora, you can take my reply back with you if you don't mind?" she said quietly to the bird, who hooted quietly in agreement.

 _Violet,_

 _Sorry this is so late, grans been at me to get all my homework finished before we head to London tomorrow, it's all done now though!_

 _Harry said you're coming for dinner too! I'm so excited! Have you got all your school stuff ready to go? I packed my trunk this morning._

 _Anyways, I better go to bed before gran yells at me… I swear she can see through walls or something._

 _See you tomorrow!_

 _Teddy_

Violet felt a sudden twinge of guilt, had she been stopping Teddy from doing his homework?

Never the less, she grabbed her pen and stationary set from where it now lived on her bedside table and scribbled a quick note in reply

 _Teddy,_

 _I hope I haven't been keeping you from your homework, don't worry about writing late though, I fell asleep and only found your note just now, it's 4 am, I hope you haven't been worried about Aurora, it seems she's been happily chattering with Dahlia._

 _I'm excited for dinner too, dad said we're going 'round there early, I have almost everything packed, but aunt Ginny is going to help me label all my clothes today._

 _I'll see you this afternoon!_

 _Violet_

She crammed the note into an envelope and attached it carefully to Aurora's leg, who after a quiet hoot and a quick scratch behind the wing from Violet, took off in flight.

Violet put her book back on her desk and climbed back into bed, sleeping right through until ten o'clock when her father woke her with a cup of tea.

She climbed out of bed, took a long shower and pulled on a knee length bohemian style dress, her favourite brown sandals and brushed her hair to no avail. It was an unruly mess as usual so she flattened it out the best she could and pulled a thick fabric head band, almost like a bandana on.

She appraised herself in the mirror noticing how much she resembled a hippie, much to her delight.

She took her duffle bag and put it by the front door, ready for when they left and found her father in the kitchen with a breakfast of eggs on toast ready for her. She sat down and ate it, appreciating some real food after her grandmother's offerings of salmon and asparagus at dinner the previous night.

She sat in the kitchen with her dad talking about the previous night's visit long after she had finished eating, only getting up when it was time to go to the Potter house.

When they arrived, Violet jumped out of the car quickly and bounded up the steps to the front door, she no longer waited for her dad to get out the car to knock. Uncle Harry opened the door and let them in with a great grin across his face and led them down stairs to the basement kitchen, the house quiet aside from uncle Harry's two older kids playing cheerfully in the drawing room.

They entered the kitchen to find aunt Ginny sat at the end of a long wooden table with a portly woman and a cheerful looking man, both had hair as red as flames, aunt Ginny introduced them as her parents Molly and Arthur and invited her and her dad to join them at the table while she pointed her wand at the stove to put the kettle on to boil.

"oh my goodness, you can tell she's related to you with that hair can't you Harry!" Molly exclaimed as Violet took a seat, putting her duffle bag down on the one beside her.

"oh mum leave her be, her hair is beautiful!" aunt Ginny said firmly before turning to Violet "is that your clothes love? Underwear too? Pass it over, we'll get those labelled now, Andromeda and Teddy are due in an hour, so we'll get them done before they arrive"

Violet handed over her bag and giggled as Arthur stood up, red in the face.

"err… why don't we step out into the back yard and get the table moved out of the shed boys" he said to uncle harry and her dad awkwardly, both nodding quickly and excusing themselves.

Violet watched intently as Molly and aunt Ginny took the clothes out of the bag and started using their wands to label it all, admiring the beautiful dresses as they went.

"Muggle clothes really have come a long way haven't they Ginny dear" Molly asked as she pulled Violets favourite of the dresses out to be labelled, to which aunt Ginny nodded in agreement "what time is everyone arriving dear?"

"about four" aunt Ginny answered, noticing the confused look on Violets face "the last Sunday of the summer we have a big family gathering for dinner, so everyone can see each other before the kids go back to school, we've been doing it since my niece Victoire started at Hogwarts, she's starting her third year this year. It's mostly our family but Teddy and his grandmother always come as well and since he's started school they stay the last few days before the 1st so they don't have to travel as far, we always have a wonderful time"

"oh" said Violet surprised disappointment in her voice "is that why we came early today? So we can leave before they get here?"

"absolutely not dear!" Molly declared in shock.

"of course not Vi, we just thought that you could come early so we could get all your clothes labelled and so you could have a proper visit with us and with Teddy before everyone else arrives because it's going to be a madhouse and we know you like to ask questions about Hogwarts and our world, we wanted you to have a chance to ask them and get proper answers" aunt Ginny told her firmly before adding reassuringly "you're family Violet, you are always welcome in our home, just like all my siblings"

Violet smiled as she considered this, watching as aunt Ginny magically packed all of the clothes back into her duffel bag and Molly made tea for the three of them, moments later the fireplace in the corner of the kitchen erupted in green flames, startling Violet beyond belief. She watched in amazement as the flames died down and an old witch with greying hair stepped from within, a skinny boy with violent purple hair at her side.

"hey violet!" said the boy excitedly, Violet realising as the shock wore off that it was Teddy.

"hey! You've dyed your hair again?" she greeted him with a huge smile.

"oh I forgot to tell you! It's not hair dye!" he said excitedly taking the seat next to her at the table, aunt Ginny interrupted just long enough to introduce Violet to Teddy's grandmother Andromeda, pass Teddy and Andromeda each a cup of tea and top up Violets own cup.

"it's not?" Violet asked, perplexed at this information

"nope!" Teddy responded, excitement in his eyes as he started to explain "I'm a metamorphmagus, which means I can change how I look whenever I want and I don't need my wand or anything to do it! Gran thinks I'm one cause my mum was too"

"so, you can just change what you look like whenever? Or is it just your hair?" she asked, amazed by what Teddy was telling her.

"no it's everything, I'm only allowed change my hair at school though, not my face or anything so I don't pretend to be anyone else and get them in trouble" he answered before changing his entire face to look like an old woman then changing it back again.

They chatted excitedly about school for the next couple of hours until people started arriving, soon the house was filled with cheerful voices and kids running in and out of every room playing.

First to arrive was a tall red headed man who aunt Ginny said was her oldest brother Bill along with his wife, a beautiful woman with a French accent with their children Victoire, who was a year older than Teddy, Dominique and Luis, followed closely by another tall red headed man who uncle Harry introduced as aunt Ginny's brother Charlie. Soon after Charlie's arrival Hermione, Ron and their kids Rose and Hugo arrived greeting Violet with cheerful smiles and hugs, next to arrive was aunt Ginny's brother George, who Violet remembered from the joke shop in Diagon Alley, and his girlfriend Angelina, finally, at five o'clock a man who aunt Ginny told Violet was her other brother Percy arrived with his wife Audrey and their three-year-old daughter Molly.

With the arrival of the last of the dinner guest's uncle Harry encouraged them all to head out to the back yard where they would all be eating, Violet noticed the look of discomfort on her father's face as they edged their way outside.

Finally, when everyone was sat around the table, Arthur stood and commanded the attention of the twenty-six people at the table, some of the younger kids still giggling and yelling while he spoke.

"well family" he started cheerfully "I'd like to start by thanking you all for making yourselves available for this annual dinner of celebration and once again it's a special one, we have our lovely Victoire starting her third year of Hogwarts, young Teddy is starting his second and of course Violet, who is joining us at this dinner for the first time as she embarks on her first year at Hogwarts, welcome to our crazy family Violet, and you Dudley, finally I'd like everyone to raise a glass and join me in a toast, to our three students having a wonderful and safe school year, to the family by whom we are currently surrounded and of course to the family who cannot be here with us today"

As he finished the people around her all raised their glass, half cheerful half sombre, before turning to the middle of the table where Molly was magically removing the covers from all of the food that everyone had brought with them, Violet could hear her father apologising to uncle Harry and aunt Ginny for not realising they should have brought something too.

Violet looked around the table as everyone started picking up the bowl or plate in front of them, put a little bit of the food it held onto their own plate and passed it on the person on their right. All of their plates were soon filled and everyone started having conversations with the people around them, Andromeda and Molly were discussing house cleaning charms, Aunt Ginny was fussing over her kids while uncle Harry and Ron discussed work, Victoire and Teddy were talking to the older Weasley brothers about the homework they had had to complete over the holidays and Arthur was quizzing her dad about air conditioning units for some bizarre reason.

Violet quickly became very aware of the fact that all of these people, even the small children, had grown up around magic and knew far more about it than she did, even if she had already read her school books from cover to cover. She couldn't help but feel a sinking feeling in her stomach as she realised that she was probably going to be way behind everyone else at school even on her first day.

"you seem quiet today Violet, is everything okay?" the person beside her asked quietly, leaning towards her.

She looked beside her to find Hermione, with a concerned expression across her face.

"I'm just…I don't know" Violet replied quietly.

"nervous about school?" Hermione asked as though she could read her mind, Violet simply nodded, resting her fork on her plate "I was really nervous before going to Hogwarts for the first time too you know, I was so scared that someone had made a mistake or that I would be awful in all my classes because neither of my parents were magical"

"but you work at the Ministry now" Violet said incredulously.

"I do, I was so scared that I would fail everything that I read all of my school books at least three times before I even got there, I figured if I'm awful at the magic part at least I'll know everything and then I got there and realised that no one else in my classes had used magic before either, because you don't get a wand until you're going to Hogwarts and you can't use magic outside of Hogwarts until you're seventeen, the only place where other kids had an advantage was the ones who had grown up riding brooms, but I had no interest in playing Quidditch so it didn't matter, that's our sport. It turned out that I was really quite good at magic and I was always top of all of my classes"

"really?" Violet asked, starting to feel much better.

"yes, and you know your grandparents, they certainly weren't magical and Harry grew up in their house with your dad, he didn't get as good grades as I did by any means, but he's an auror now, which is like a magical detective of sorts, as long as you apply yourself and give it your best shot you'll be fine, I already know you've read all your books because you told me that, which means you're probably ahead of a lot of your classmates" Hermione smiled kindly.

This made Violet feel a lot better, so she picked up her fork and started eating her food, asking Hermione about the laws about using magic and what books she thought might be good for extra reading.

The rest of the night flew and soon enough everyone started heading home, Violet and her father arranged to meet Teddy and Andromeda at the entrance to Kings Cross at ten thirty on Wednesday morning so they could help them onto the platform as uncle Harry would be at work and after bidding the remaining Weasleys and Potters farewell, went home themselves.


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: Thank you to everyone who has followed and favourited! It excites and motivates me to know that you're reading and enjoying my story!

*I claim no ownership of anything from J. 's magical world nor the original Harry Potter universe, only the story at hand and original characters*

September 1st 2010

Violet could hardly contain her excitement as her father parked the car across from Kings Cross Station at ten twenty on a sunny Wednesday morning. She had packed, unpacked and repacked all of her things at least ten times over the last few days to make sure she definitely had everything she needed, now as she climbed out of the car she pulled Dahlia's cage and a small blue backpack which contained her wand, her robes and a copy of a book called 'Hogwarts; a History' by Bathilda Bagshot, that Hermione had sent her by owl the day before, out along with her. Her father found a trolley and pulled her trunk onto it, she put Dahlia on top and they started across the bustling street to meet Teddy and Andromeda.

As they came to a stop outside of the entrance Violet caught sight of a familiar face beaming at her, pushing a trolley containing much the same items as her own, his grandmother had a lock of relief upon her face.

"good morning Dudley, Violet, goodness me, I didn't think we were going to get away in time, young James wanted to come along too, I think he would have tried to jump on the train personally" Andromeda greeted them both with a hug.

Teddy grinned nodding in agreement with what she had said.

"shall we get going? It's far easier to get onto the platform now than it will be in fifteen minutes when everyone's in a rush" she asked Violets father as he nodded in agreement.

As they strode through Kings Cross Station towards platform nine and ten Violet felt a sudden nervous twang in the pit of her stomach, what if she couldn't get through? Uncle Harry had assured her that she wouldn't have any problems with it, so she should just stay calm, but she couldn't help herself.

"ok" said Andromeda as they came to a stop facing the barrier between platforms nine and ten "Violet, why don't you step through with Teddy and his trolley, and then your dad and I can follow through with yours?"

Violet and her father nodded in agreement then Violet placed her hand on Teddys trolley handle and they started walking together, heading straight for the barrier. Violet had expected a hard wall and a clattering of noise, to be stopped by the barrier, instead they simply kept walking a few short steps before coming to a stop on a whole new platform which had been hidden moments before.

Violet was amazed as she took in her surrounding, a large glass dome ceiling far above her head, a few people stood with their children here and there around the platform and the most amazing part of the scene, a huge red steam train glistening in the beams of sunlight hitting it from above.

"why don't we find a compartment for you to sit in and get your luggage on board, then we can say our farewells" Andromeda suggested.

They chose the nearest compartment to where they stood so that they could wave farewell and after loading their trunks and the two happily teetering owls into it, the two students returned to the platform to find that Bill, Fleur and Victoire had stopped the chat with her father and Andromeda.

"hey Victoire!" Teddy greeted her happily "you can share our compartment if you like?"

"oh, no thank you Teddy, I'm just waiting for my friends, we agreed to ride the train together, thank you though" Victoire replied with a smile.

A few minutes later Victoire spotted her friends and took off to find a compartment with them. Teddy and Violet stood with the group of adults quietly chatting about the train ride to come before Victoire darted back to bid her parents and Andromeda farewell.

"oh gosh is that the time!" Andromeda exclaimed, glancing at her watch "you two best be getting on as well or you'll miss it! Come here Teddy, give your gran a cuddle"

Violet looked up at her dad and gave him a huge hug while Teddy hugged his grandmother and Fleur and shook Bills hand.

"look after yourself Vi, follow the rules and be sure to write okay?" her father said quietly into her hair, a blonde mess down her back.

Violet promised to write, as did Teddy and the two of them climbed back onto the train and sat down in their compartment grinning at their farewell party through the window.

A piercing whistle sounded and several students still on the platform scrambled aboard as the beautiful old steam train lurched slowly forward.

Violet and Teddy waved to their families until they were no longer in sight upon the platform then settled into their seats across from each other.

They spent the train ride talking about Hogwarts, Teddy explaining how the classes work and the how students get sorted into the different houses.

"what are the houses?" Violet asked, taken aback, no one had mentioned this to her before.

"well there's Gryffindor, that's where all of the Weasley family, Harry and Hermione got placed, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, that's my house and there's Slytherin" Teddy told her, matter of factly.

"but how do they choose your house? Is it random?" Violet asked anxiously, needing to know what she could expect.

"nah, there's this really old hat, the sorting hat, it's bewitched, you put it on your head and it figures out what qualities you possess and value and chooses your house based on them. Gryffindors generally value bravery, daring, nerve and chivalry, Hufflepuffs value hard work, dedication, patience, loyalty and playing fair, Ravenclaws value knowledge, wit and intelligence and Slytherin values ambition, cunning and resourcefulness. The traits desired for each house where decided centuries ago by the founders of the school but they don't mean what they used to" Teddy explained.

"what did it used to mean?" Violet asked curiously.

"well, there used to be really strong competition between the houses, they all sat at different tables in the hall and didn't really hang about with people from other houses, especially where Slytherin was concerned, but that's changed now, there's no set house tables, except for the start of year feast and sorting and the end of year feast when the house cup winner gets announced. We still sleep in house dormitories, but there isn't the same competition as there used to be…not since the war" Teddy trailed off at the end of his explanation and changed the subject as the lunch trolley arrived.

The two of them bought pumpkin pasties and some different sweets to share and settled back into their seats, Teddy changed the topic of conversation to the wizard sport Quidditch, which lasted them until a prefect tapped on the door and poked her head into their compartment.

"we'll be arriving in about ten minutes, you two ought to have your robes on by now" she said kindly, tucking a stray strand of dark hair neatly behind her ear, before leaving them again.

Teddy and Violet pulled on their robes and Teddy explained what would happen when they arrived at the station, Violet was disappointed to hear that she would need to separate from Teddy for the final leg of the trip as first years arrive by boat across the lake.

Sure enough, fifteen minutes later Violet found herself in a wooden row boat with a few other nervous first years sailing smoothly across a huge lake, led by an enormous man with long black hair streaked with silver and a great bushy beard.

The first years where then led across a lawn and inside through an enormous set of doors and met by a tiny little man, shorter than even the smallest first year, with a mess of hair as white as snow upon his head.

"follow me please" he instructed them as the last few students filed into the hall, turning on the spot and leading them past another large set of doors behind where a hum of noise was emanating, and into a small room off the entry.

"My name is Professor Flitwick, deputy headmaster here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, in just a few moments I will take you all into the great hall so the sorting ceremony may commence, please wait quietly here while I tell the headmistress we are ready to go" the tiny man explained.

A few short moments later he returned to the small room and instructed the still silent first years to follow him in single file. The students did as they had been asked and one by one they entered the great hall, full of students and teachers looking in their direction. The hall itself was uncomfortably silent. Once all of the first years were lined up at the front of the hall, facing the rest of the students who were all gazing up at them, Professor Flitwick placed a stool at the front of the other students and placed an old, beaten up hat upon it before turning to the anxious first years.

"I will call your names, one by one, at which point you will come forward, place the hat upon your head and sit in the stool to be sorted" the tiny professor addressed the first years.

"Anderson, Zachary" called Professor Flitwick and a thin boy with light brown hair took a seat on the stool with the hat atop his head before being sorted to Hufflepuff moments later.

Anderson, Zachary was followed by a boy named Taylor Bradigan and a girl named Victoria Campbell, both of whom were sent to Ravenclaw, Emily Clarke was sent to Gryffindor and her twin brother Joshua was sent to Slytherin.

"Dursley, Violet" called the tiny professor, it took Violet a few moments to register that this was her name.

She stepped forward nervously, all eyes upon her as she placed the hat upon her head and took a seat.

"hmmmm" came a strange voice from within her head "well this is very interesting"

"what is?" Violet asked the voice within her head.

"I see many qualities which you both possess and value, miss Dursley, loyalty, humbleness, patience, dedication and fairness, all befitting of a true Hufflepuff. Intelligence, wit and a craving for knowledge, qualities desired for Ravenclaw house. Courage, determination and leadership worthy of Gryffindor, even ambition and resourcefulness, those qualities sought by Salazar Slytherin himself" the hat said within her head, it seemed to Violet that he was talking to himself, rather than answering her question.

"the fact that you will do great things for our world is merely a given miss Dursley, the question at hand is where you will best be able to do those great things" the hat said after several long minutes of silence "do you best fit Hufflepuff where you will find loyal friendship to guide you along the way?... no no, I don't believe that you will need much guidance from your peers my dear…. No, not Hufflepuff. Perhaps Ravenclaw, where you will find yourself surrounded by others who seek knowledge above all else?...or perhaps even Gryffindor, where pride and leadership will drive you forward, like so many before you?...or could it be that Slytherin will aid you in bringing our world forward with change?...yes yes yes, that is the key…" the hat said within her head as it processed the information at hand to come to a decision, Violet realised that the hall which had been previously silent was aloft with whispers, how long had she been sat here?

"SLYTHERIN!" shouted the hat with finality, Violet realised at once that this had been announced to the entire hall as the Slytherin table erupted with cheers and some students from other houses glanced at each other nervously.

Violet climbed quickly from the stool and joined the Slytherin table, she took the seat beside Joshua Clarke and watched as the remaining first years were sorted and the tiny professor removed the hat and stool from the hall before a thin, stern looking witch in ruby red robes took to the podium, commanding the immediate attention of students and staff alike.

"welcome" she said, her voice portraying an air of authority "to another year at Hogwarts, as I'm sure you're all quite hungry after your journey, we will commence the feast without further ado!"

The feast was wonderful with every type of roast meat and vegetables imaginable and a number of ghosts gliding into the hall as the sweets appeared, seemingly from thin air. Violet chatted quietly with the other Slytherin first years, of which there were four. To Violets delight only one of the Slytherin first years was born to magical parents, she felt better that they would all be starting together.

Finally, after everyone had stopped eating sweets and Violet felt much like she did after any Christmas spent at her grandparent's house, ready to burst, the food disappeared and the thin witch took to the podium once more.

"now that we have all filled our stomachs, I would like to remind all students that the forest within the school grounds is strictly out of bounds to all students, Mr. Filch, the school's caretaker" she said, indicating to an old man who looked worn and tired at the end of the staff table as she spoke his name "has asked me to remind you all that the use of magic in the school's halls is prohibited. Any students wishing to try out for their house quidditch team must submit their names to their head of house promptly as trials will be held in two weeks' time, first years, please follow your house prefects who will guide you to your dormitories. Have a wonderful school year and goodnight"

The moments she stopped speaking and turned back to the staff table the hall erupted with noise as students stood and started filing out of the hall towards their dormitories, Violet and the other Slytherin first years stayed seated and waited for their prefects, they were soon approached by the same dark-haired prefect who had told Violet and Teddy to change into their robes on the train.

"my name is Nicole Williams and I am one of the Slytherin prefects" she introduced herself as a tall boy with pale skin and dark hair joined her "this is Jacob Brown, he is the other Slytherin prefect, please follow us and we will show you the way to the Slytherin common room and dormitories"

And with that, the two prefects turned around and started walking towards the exit, Violet noticed that while the first years from the other houses where all heading somewhere above the ground, the Slytherins were being lead down a narrow staircase, they traipsed for what felt like hours through long tunnels and corridors, their footsteps echoing off the ceiling and walls.

"here we are" Nicole said as she came to a stop in front of a seemingly blank stretch of stone wall "the password for this term is 'Merlin'"

As soon as she had said the password the wall peeled back creating a large oval shaped archway, the five first years filed in behind the two prefects and watched in awe as the archway closed over behind them, turning back into a stretch of stone wall. Violet turned back to the common room, amazed by the ornate marble fireplace which took pride of place on the wall opposite the entry, with a large silver serpent with emerald eyes on the wall above it, huge green windows stretched the height of the walls allowing mellow green light to filter through, Violet gave a start as what appeared to be a ginormous squid floated past the window nearest her.

"Girls dormitories are to the right, boys to the left, first years are in the first dormitory along each hall" Jacob said, indicating to a door on either side of the large round common room.

"your bathroom is directly across the hall from your dormitories" added Nicole "go and get settled in, you'll find your things have already been put in there"

And with that both prefects turned and walked away, each to a different group of people sat within the common room. The first years followed their directions and went to find their dormitories, sure enough, they found their trunks at the end of their beds.

Violet found her trunk at the foot of a four-posted bed between two large windows with identical four poster beds on either side, on her bed lay a green and silver scarf and tie along with black dress pants, a grey pleated skirt, two white button up shirts, one short sleeve and one long sleeved and a grey sweater with two green stripes around the waist and wrists.

Each of the three Slytherin girls took their school clothes and robes and hung them in the wardrobe opposite their beds before changing into their pyjamas and climbing into their beds.

They chatted quietly amongst themselves about the train ride, the sorting ceremony and the feast until slowly they each dropped off to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I am SO SORRY that it has taken so long to get this chapter up and that it isn't as long as the others, work and home life both got super crazy super fast, I promise I'll try and be better.

Disclaimer: I don't own a darn thing from the Harry Potter universe, only the original characters and the plot line (which I'm sure has been done before anyways)

September 2nd 2010

As the Slytherin first years entered classroom 34 on the third floor for Transfiguration the following morning they were surprised not only to find the headmistress standing at the front of the classroom rather than the transfiguration professor named on their time tables, but also to find that it appeared that all of the Hogwarts first year students would be taking their classes together. Patrick and Joshua, the two Slytherin boys, took seats at the back of the class while Violet and her two new roommates, Andrea and Rebecca, took the remaining three seats in the front row.

With all the students now seated the headmistress commanded the attention of the class.

"Good morning, my name is Professor McGonagall, I am the headmistress here at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the teacher who would normally be taking this class, Professor Kepley has not yet arrived at the school, so I am taking his place for the day, no matter however as we like to reserve the first lesson that first years have for the school year to explain the grading system used here at Hogwarts and what we expect from our students. Before we begin I have a short announcement to make, after much consultation with the school's board of governors, it has been decided that from tomorrow morning onwards students will no longer be required to wear robes with the exception of school feasts, Quidditch matches and trips to Hogsmeade Village, the latter however does not apply to you until you reach your third year" she told the class.

"please take out a sheet of parchment and a quill and record what I am about to explain to you, to avoid confusion in the future" she instructed.

Professor McGonagall explained that they would not be sitting official exams until the end of their fifth year, followed by a second round of official exams at the end of their sixth year. She explained that Hogwarts used the same grading system as the ministry of magic used for their official exams and that the grades they receive throughout the following years will be a good indication of their expected grades for their exams. She explained that they would be subjected to tests by their individual teachers in exam conditions at the end of each year to make sure they're keeping up.

She finished the lesson by explaining that all students are required to attend all their scheduled lessons and complete all homework by the due date and that if there are any issues in doing so they should communicate directly with the teacher of that subject. They were then dismissed and instructed to go to their next lesson.

That afternoon Violet found herself feeling slightly nervous as she took a seat in the front of classroom 31 on the second floor, for Defence against the dark arts.

They had had Charms with Professor Flitwick after their odd lesson with McGonagall and History of Magic one with Professor Binns after lunch who had already set them six inches of homework on the Gargoyle Strike of 1911.

As she pulled her quill, her text book and a fresh sheet of parchment from her bag Violet noticed writing on the board which said, 'Please put your wands away', apparently she wasn't the only one noticing this at that moment as several groans and grumbles erupted from the students around her.

At three o'clock when the bell chimed signalling the start of the lesson a tall woman with blonde hair in a tight braid behind her back entered from a door at the front of the classroom, she was younger than Violet would expect a teacher to be, only her father's age.

"Good afternoon everyone" the woman said loudly, garnering the attention of the class "my name is Professor Bones and I have been tasked with instructing you in the skills and knowledge of Defence against the dark arts, todays lesson will be theoretical, as it is your first, though this doesn't mean that they all will be. Can anyone tell me the purpose of this subject?"

Violet raised her hand tentatively in the air.

"yes, miss…" the professor addressed Violet.

"Dursley, Violet Dursley, the purpose is to educate us on the concept of dark magic and the ways we can defend ourselves and those around us if we should need to" Violet responded quietly, terrified that she would be wrong.

"that is correct Miss Dursley, it is my job to ensure that you are all prepared to defend yourselves against dark witches, wizards and creatures alike, should you need to. The history of the magical community has been plagued for centuries by dark witches and wizards who have attempted to overthrow our government and change our way of life for the worse, most recent of these of course, was Lord Voldemort, who spent many years practicing incredibly dark magic until, twelve years ago he was finally defeated by Harry Potter along with a great number of witches and wizards who risked their lives and families to give us the world we have today- yes Miss. Dursley?"

Violet hadn't even realised that she had raised her hand.

"it's just… sorry professor, but did you say Harry Potter?" she asked, confused by the mention of her uncle's name.

"yes, I did, however we will not be discussing Harry Potter in detail, simply the methods used by him, the order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's army, along with those other brave fighters previously mentioned, in the defeat of Lord Voldemort. You will learn more about that war in a historical sense in History of magic two, now, can anyone tell me what the term unforgivable curse means?"

While the remainder of the lesson was very interesting, Violet, who had already learnt everything the professor told them about the use of the unforgivable curses when she read her text book before term, found herself distracted and confused by the mention of her uncle's name for the rest of the lesson.

Violet went directly from Defence against the dark arts to the library, Rebecca and Andrea had decided to go sit by the lake until dinner, leaving her alone as she placed her bag on a quiet table by a window and contemplated where to start, she spent the next half hour wandering amongst the stacks trying to find any book that looked like it might contain some clues about why Professor Bones had mentioned Uncle Harry but to no avail.

She resigned herself to working on her homework for Professor Binns instead, he had been the only teacher to assign homework on the first day.

At 5:15, with 3 of her 6 inches completed she packed away her things and made her way to the great hall for dinner, as she absentmindedly served herself a plate of sausages and mashed potatos, she heard someone drop into the seat across from her.

"it's Violet isn't it?" asked a familiar voice "how did your first day go?"

Violet looked up from her plate to find Nicole, the Slytherin prefect, smiling at her kindly.

"yeah its Violet, it was good" she responded.

The two discussed what lessons the first years had had that day and the homework that professor Binns had set for a half hour before Violet had the idea to ask Nicole about her uncle, Nicole was a 5th year, she must have taken History of Magic two.

"Nicole, can I ask you a question?" she started slowly, continuing when Nicole nodded, her mouth full of bread "it's just that, in Defence against the Dark arts, Professor Bones mentioned a name, Harry Potter, but she said she wasn't going to talk about him in her class and that we'd learn about it in History of Magic two… well, being a fifth year, you've already taken history of magic two right?"

"ah, well, no. history of magic two is only a new subject, they only brought it in last year because of how many more muggle born students have started popping up, and it's only offered to first years, just to bring you up to date" Nicole explained, Violet felt the surge of disappointment deep within her stomach, it must have shown in her face because Nicole quickly continued "I do know pretty much all of what gets taught in the class though, because I'm from a magical family, I'll leave most of it for the Professor, but I might be able to answer a couple of questions for you…if you want of course"

"well, I guess the main thing is" Violet said quietly, thinking through the wording of her question carefully "who is Harry Potter?"

"Harry Potter is an Auror, that's the magical law enforcement team, he attended Hogwarts and was a huge part in defeating Lord Voldemort" she cringed as she said the name "basically, I don't remember much of the war, because I was only four when the war ended, but I know that for some reason Harry Potter was the only person who could have defeated him, they said he was the chosen one and, whether it was true or not, he apparently took it to heart because he trained a bunch of Hogwarts students in defensive magic, was the poster child for the rebellion and, according to eye witness accounts, defeated Voldemort in a duel, right here, in this very hall… that's about all I really know, but you get the gist, Professor Thomas will make it much more interesting and give you loads more detail I'm sure, anyways, I better get up to the library, I've already got homework for five different classes"

And with that Nicole pushed her plate away from her, jumped up from her seat and made her way out of the hall, leaving Violet alone once more to contemplate what she had just been told.


End file.
